Realization
by Blu Rose
Summary: O is for OthelloShipping. Ash & Hilda. After years of treating their relationship like a passing thing that wouldn't last, they both came to a somehow frightening realization.


_Disclaimer: If I owned the Pokémon series, Hilda or Hilbert would've appeared at least once in the anime._

**X-X-X**

O is for **OthelloShipping **_(Ash & Hilda)_

She found herself staring up at the lamp that hung over the bed from the ceiling, rather than focusing on her companion who was sprawled out on his side of the bed. She folded her arms across her chest, focused on the variety of colors used on the ceiling lamp before she found herself speaking up, "Why do we do this, Ash?"

It got a reaction. First, he hummed in confusion. Then she felt the mattress move as he rolled over to look at her. But her eyes were still on the lamp. "Do what?"

"_This_." Still keeping her eyes on the ceiling, she pointed down at the bed. Really, what she wanted to say was _'Why do we __**still**__ do this?'_ She wasn't sure if he understood her point or not, but she got no answer.

Years ago—they forgot the exact number because it feels like it's been _so long_—they met on a subway in Unova. Ash Ketchum and Hilda Gray, two young trainers who aspired to be the very best. They considered each other rivals, but at the same time, they considered each other something more. It was all so innocent, like you'd expect for kids who knew next to nothing about what you had to do in a relationship: a kiss here, a nuzzle there, while hidden away from public eyes because he had his friends and she had hers, and the last things they wanted were teases and rumors.

But after Unova, they would encounter each other in seemingly every other region they traveled to and every other Pokémon League they competed in. And in those chance meetings, they felt they just _had_ to spend time together, and they usually wound up acting like they had during their respective journeys through Unova—a kiss here, a nuzzle there, and by the next morning, they'd be _both_ boasting about how _they_ would win and how the other better not lose. Rivals one moment, secret lovers the next.

As the years went on, they both grew older. He became a young man who was confident enough to travel by him and her, a young woman who didn't need to call her friends and family all the time. They were adults now, old enough to be considered veteran trainers in the sense of experience, but they still traveled through regions, still competed in leagues, and still got together whenever they happened to meet. The only difference was…it got serious. As in, _'wake up in a bed with someone the next morning'_ serious. And they'd been doing this for quite a few years. Of course, no one _knew_ but them, because they were adults now—and if their mothers found out, they'd _kill them_ _so hard _not even _Arceus_ himself would be able to revive them.

"Why do we this…?" Ash repeated as he rolled onto his back and started to stare up at the ceiling as well. "Because… I honestly don't know." He gave a short laugh about that, trying to make the situation seem like the funny, whimsical things they did as kids. But it wasn't. This was the sort of thing his mother always told him you should do with the woman you married and Brock once told him you should at least do with a woman you felt strongly about. Doing _it_ with a girl whom you thought a relationship with wouldn't last for more than a journey through Unova seemed unfitting, and yet it didn't.

Hilda sighed. "…I'm not sure if we should do this anymore."

"Hm? Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure what we are anymore." Ash opened his mouth to answer, but Hilda quickly sat up and said, "I've dated other guys before."

The dark-haired young man narrowed his eyes. "_What_?!"

"I haven't slept with them! And we always joked about how we're not gonna be dating each other forever, so, I just assumed…" The brunette trailed off. She became interested in the state of her fingernails now. "What? Don't tell me you haven't met any other girls you've thought of _like that_. Or do you still not notice when some girl's attracted to you?"

Ash sat up as well. "Yes. I have." Girls he used to travel around with or girls he met several times on his journeys through regions.

"Did you sleep with _them_?"

"The thought never entered my mind." It really hadn't. It wasn't like they weren't cute or fun to be with. It was just that no matter how many girls Ash met or knew, there just wasn't that _spark_ that he had with Hilda.

"It never entered mine, either. So what does that mean?" For the first time in a long while, their eyes met. "Because I honestly don't know, Ash."

"Neither do I."

Of course, they both were lying. They _knew_ what it meant, and they were afraid about it. They were afraid that this was no longer a childish affair or a friendly fling, but honest to goodness _love_. That realization was somehow worse than the reoccurring thought over the years that they weren't really made for each other. One would think that after years of something like this, learning such a thing would be a relief on them. Perhaps because they hadn't really expected to find _'The One'_ in a relationship they thought would end like a typical high school romance, much like wind up in such a relationship as _this_ with them.

"This is ridiculous," Ash muttered as he got out of the bed and began putting on his clothes. "There's no point in worrying about this when we have other things to think about. I'll see you tomorrow, alright? Don't you dare lose."

"I should be saying that to _you_!" Hilda shot back, rolling onto her side to get one last look at the dark-haired man. He simply shot her a look from over his shoulder and smiled before he closed the door behind him.

But despite the fact that they both tried to put it in the back of their heads, their worry continued through the night. Eventually, that worry turned into curiosity towards their relationship. Was their relationship really just some passing thing, just like they had always assumed they would be? Or were they something far more indestructible than they thought as kids? They would both wind up thinking to themselves in the middle of the night: "I think I've found the one."


End file.
